Ngilgi Cave

The entrance is less than ten feet across

The Margaret River region is home to over 100 caves. Limestone and water and millions of years are conducive to the creation of these often beautiful creations of nature. Several of these are open to visitors. Some are electrically lit and have been outfitted with boardwalks to facilitate visitors. Others only provide flashlights and helmets to visitors offering a “more natural” experience.

Realizing we needed to experience this aspect of the region, we chose the Ngilgi cave partly because it has a paired entry with the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

Ngilgi was discovered in 1899 and quickly became the first real tourist destination in this part of Australia. Honeymooners were particularly targeted as guests to the cave and nearby Caves Hotel. From Perth, the trip took two days by train, another day by horse-drawn cart to reach the hotel. The honeymooners then spent a full day exploring the cave, particularly at Cupid’s Corner where they might enjoy a bit of privacy. It’s amazing to think that they did this exploration in dress clothes. One wonders how many dresses were ruined by on this memorable trip.

Today, the visit begins with a descent by stairs down the small hole. Seventy steps down and we reached the first landing where our guide described the rest of the visit where we would be on our own. The cave is beautifully lit and the entire route has been fitted with stairs and boardwalks. We were already becoming mesmerized by the formations rising from the floor and hanging from the ceiling and it would only get better as we descended into the depths of Ngilgi Cave.

To one side of the first landing is a large room requiring only a short descent. Acoustics in this room are such that it once hosted a concert by Australia’s premier opera diva who now graces the $100 bill. They actually lowered a piano into the area to accompany her. The other direction requires a longer descent and some ducking of heads to a series of exciting scenes of a wide variety of stalactites and stalagmites.

I remember from school days learning that stalactites descend and stalagmites ascend. I always remember which is which because the c in stalactite represents ceiling and the g in stalagmite represents ground. What I did not learn is that there are also varieties within these broad designations. Fortunately the cave provides a guide at the lower depths who was able to explain them. I asked about the very thin stalactites and learned that they are actually hollow like straws. Stalactites begin their lives with the water dripping down the hollow until the hole is plugged. Then the water drips down the outside of the straw becoming larger and larger eventually joining with other formations becoming larger and larger. One of them in this cave is over two tons in size.

There are also some that look like sheets or blades that flow from the ceilings and walls. The guide referred to these as shawls. Some of them were translucent shining beautifully in the light.

Other small stalactites curled around in some cases forming circles. When I asked the guide about these he said no one knows how it is that these formations defy gravity to form these shapes. There is conjecture of course, but no one has been able to come up with a definitive explanation.

Our guide told us that we would be descending 350 steps. Of course that meant we would also be ascending 350 steps. If you have ever climbed a cathedral or lighthouse tower, you know that 350 is a lot of climbing. However, these 350 steps are divided into a lot of ups and downs so it never feels like you are doing a lot of climbing even in the higher humidity and carbon dioxide levels we experience at the lower levels of this cave. Children as young as four years old were having a great time in the cave along with us older folks. They also created a “Tunnel of Doom” for the kids to crawl through on their way down into the depths. Since we were visiting during Western Australia’s school holiday, we did see a lot of children in the cave with us.

A layer of soil. I'm not sure why it is still hanging here. 

Following our return to the top and out of the cave, we spent the afternoon doing a little wine tasting, something the Margaret River is also famous for although of a more recent vintage, The wine industry only began here in 1967, fifty years ago.

 I thought algae, but it is a mineral stain.